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  • Imam Al-Ghazzali on Feeble-Mindedness

    …the parable of the feeble-minded person who thinks that the light of the sun is the result of its rising, is like the parable of an ant which as it happened upon the surface of a sheet of paper, was endowed with reason and thereupon watched the movement in the process of writing, only to think that it was the work of the pen, but would not go beyond that to see the fingers, and behind the fingers the hand, and behind the hand the will which moves it, and behind the will a deliberate and an able scribe, and behind all, the Creator of the hand, and the ability, and the will. Most people do not look beyond the nearby and earthly causes and never arrive at the Cause of all causes.

    Imam Al-Ghazzali (The Book of Knowledge)

  • Another tiring post

    cynicallyjaded:

    The day that science creates something out of nothing is the day that I will seriously reconsider my position about atheism. As long as man is manipulating what is already in existence, and as long as we always find more questions with every mystery that we solve, I’ll always marvel at the intelligence, form, function and ‘interconnectedness’ of this universe. We’re tiny and almost entirely insignificant specks of life that exist in this massive space, and we have barely scratched the surface of the true wonders of just the human body, yet we’re arrogant enough to believe that our theories about what might have occurred billions of years ago substantiated by assumed interpretations of our current state is authority enough to declare that we’re here because of a fluke of ‘stuff’ interacting and evolving over billions of years to eventually result in intelligent life that has reason and logic, and choice and emotions, and wisdom and beauty and so much more…

    The entire subject is the biggest brain fuck you could ever get. We assumed that the speed of light was unbreakable for decades…and then, quite by accident, we break it, but yet we continue in our arrogance to assume that we understand well enough to make absolute statements about what is and what isn’t true about life, death, this universe, and everything that exists within it, and in the process proclaim that there could not possibly be intelligence behind it all…it’s simply astounding the lengths we would go to just to obtain a level of peace so that we don’t have to accept our impotence and insignificance when faced with the grand design.

    After reading an article last week about atheists presenting questions specifically to Christians about scientific facts that the writer believed to be at odds with religion, I was prompted to search for this post that I wrote late last year. Given the use of language, it was obviously something that was proving to be an annoyance at the time, given how many posts I wrote about atheism and theism at the time.

    The one thing that struck me about this article that I read was that in almost every single debate brought on by atheists, they assume that the only view they need to challenge is that of Christianity, when in fact Islam is just as strongly positioned against atheism as any other religion. But more often than not, and this is played out in the mainstream media on a daily basis, the general awareness of the true aspects of Islam escapes most non-Muslims which is why there is this general misconception that Christianity is probably the only monotheistic religion other than Judaism. This although Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world with a large portion of its growth from reversions rather than procreation.

  • Contaminated

    It’s sad that the moral decay of society has resulted in so many wholesome phrases becoming an embarrassing utterance no matter how innocently they may be stated. A few that came to mind this morning include:

    • “Bend over and take it like a man” – this was a common statement by friends and teachers alike when corporal punishment was still allowed in schools in South Africa, and I was due for a ‘6 of the best’ with the teacher’s cane. (Damn, even ‘teacher’s cane’ has taken on a different meaning these days!)
    • “We were so happy and gay” – another phrase that cannot be uttered by anyone that has no desire to want to be assumed a homosexual. We can effectively change the definition of the word ‘gay’ in the English dictionary to one that has explicit sexual connotations since no one in their right mind would use it to describe their happiness any longer.
    • “I’m going to walk the dog” – for those that may not be familiar with this awkward statement, specifically if uttered by a man, consider yourself blessed. 
    • “I gave my wife a pearl necklace as a wedding gift” – such a beautiful sentiment and profession of generosity defiled by the twisted mentality of society. Again, if you’re unfamiliar with this, consider yourself blessed, and I therefore apologise in advance if this post leads you to research the meaning of this. (btw, Urban Dictionary would be a good place to start!)
    • “I’m coming” – by far the most innocently used phrase that has led to far too many embarrassing moments for grown men with modesty, especially if yelled out from another room while a group of people were waiting for him to leave for some place.

    Sad, isn’t it? :-/

  • Rhetoric has no place in giving sincere advice

  • I think we use people that are inconsequential in our lives, but abuse people that are important to us. It’s easier to take for granted someone that’s close to us, than it is to take a stranger or an acquaintance for granted because there has to be an expectation of consistency and reliability before you can take someone for granted. Hence abusing those close to us.

    However, I’ve often thought that taking someone for granted can be construed as a compliment. But such a compliment is wasted and justifiably unappreciated if it is never balanced with due care and consideration as well. 　

  • In trying to maintain my focus in salaah, I often find myself trying to picture myself standing directly in front of Allah. But given my lack of knowledge regarding what image should be conjured in my mind from such a thought, I’m left with a feeling that me, being a minuscule molecule on a dust ball in the middle of a universe that teems with magnificence well beyond our arrogant imaginations, am not able to present myself before Allah, but only to Allah; whilst Allah, in His infinite grandeur and majesty, is greater than what we can grasp of this universe while others debate what His true form is. Since this universe is part of the created, how much greater must the Creator be?

    I consider the scale of creation that allows me to observe the tiniest known particles of creation, and then I consider how much unimaginably greater the scale must be between me and Allah. My nafs will always prevent me from grasping the true meekness of my existence, yet despite this, I have the promise of bliss that even the most elaborate of imaginations will fail to grasp.

    I’m often reminded of the description of just the dust of Jannah the beauty of which will leave us standing and marvelling at it for 40 years. That’s just the dust. I cannot imagine myself beholding a piece of dust with such amazement that I would be entranced by it for 40 earthly years, let alone 40 heavenly ones. How futile must it be then to attempt to contemplate the beauty of Jannah or the magnificence of Allah?

  • Advice and Death

    Advice given by one in a moment of adversity is often sincerest. Death visits us at times that are not always of our choosing. We’re often left bewildered because we live with the endless optimism that today will not be our day. And because of this reality, when death does strike close to us, it shakes our core because even at that point of denial, we’re mourning the loss of someone close to us, when in fact we should be mourning our own lives that are fraught with missed opportunities. 

    Apart from just taking the time to appreciate others while they’re here, do we appreciate what we need to do to part in good standing, or are we always leaving for tomorrow that part of our lives or estates that we should have resolved yesterday? At times when we’re reminded of death, we should look at the state of those left behind and consider whether they were left burdened, or blessed. We live lives of probability, otherwise we’d be too worry-stricken to be functional. We survive death on a daily basis, several times a day. When I’m not distracted, which is on rare occasions, I consider the probability of being within inches of death every single time I pass an oncoming car on the road. But I’ve survived passing them so often, that it hardly ever strikes me as a moment that could end my life before I completed my next breath.

    By design, we take life for granted even when faced with death often.

  • Asmaa’ bint Yazeed رضي الله عنها reported that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

    “Shall I tell you who is the best of you?”

    They replied: “Yes”.

    He صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “Those who remind you of Allah when you see them.”

    He went on to say: “Shall I tell you about the most evil ones from amongst you?”

    They said: “Of course.”

    He صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “Those who go around with Nameemah. They make enmity between friends and they seek problems for the innocent.”

    “Musnad” of Imaam Ahmad and al-Bukhaaree in “Al-Adab Al-Mufrad” (323) and graded as “Hasan” by Shaikh al-Albaanee


    I’m often reminded of this hadith when I engage with many learned members of the Ummah. Some pretend to be more learned than others, but in most of my interactions, I’ve found that those who profess to be truer adherents of the Sunnah often had the most repulsive of manners. I’ve seen learned men, and men recognised as leading scholars of their time and in their communities speak with condescension and aloofness about those that did not agree with them, or revere their opinions.

    But similarly, as someone recently posted, it’s often those most humble without realising it, and those most subdued in their proclamation of virtues and practises that are the ones that have reminded me of Allah most. Rarely have I been reminded of Allah at the sight of an imam, or others that claim scholarly and leadership titles to embellish their profiles. Most often, those that maintain an overt appearance with distinction lack sincerity and moderation in their rebuking of others.